1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an electronic circuit. More particularly, the present invention relates to an output stage with short-circuit protection.
2. Description of Related Art
In information era, digital electronic signals have been widely used in various kinds of electronic devices. For the digital electronic signals in the electronic devices, different logic values such as logic 0 and logic 1 are typically presented by different electrical voltage levels.
The definitions of the logic values may be different in view of different digital circuits. For example, a voltage level greater than 1.3 V may be regarded as logic 1 in a microprocessor of an operating voltage ranging from 0V to 1.5V, and the same voltage level may be regarded as logic 0 in a power circuit of an operating voltage ranging from −20V to 40V. Therefore, a voltage level shifter is indispensable which is applied between two digital circuits to convert an input signal of the original operating voltage to an output signal of the converted operating voltage.
However, since the voltage level shifter is used to process signal in a large range of the operating voltage (e.g., −20V to 40V), if a short-circuit condition occurs, the inrush current may severely damage the voltage level shifter and the digital circuits to which the voltage level shifter is applied. Therefore, an output stage with short-circuit protection is desired.